[Release date 29.05.26]

The first thing I thought when I first heard this album by the Fortunate Few is Joe Cocker Sheffield Steel era, which is good for the drummer and bass player as Sly and Robbie were the rhythm section on that album, and of course Joe Cocker was the singer. So the drummer and bassist on this album are Romek Parol who assembled the musicians for the project and mostly chose the songs, and the bass player is Billy Robinson. The vocalist is Paul Cox. The other two musicians are Mick McCarney on guitar, and Dave ‘Munch’ More on keyboards.

The line up reads like a who’s who of Irish musicians. Romek has played with The Pirates, Chicken Shack and Eric Bell (of early Thin Lizzy fame). Munch has played with Pete Brown, Dick Heckstall Smith, Victor Brox and No Dice. Paul Cox has sung with Frankie Millers Full House, Micky Moody and John Slaughter. Mick and Billy have played with numerous Irish bands, including for Mick’s sins Daniel O’Donnell. All of them have toured the world with their own solid careers and recorded with, played with, or shared stages with the likes of Eric Clapton, Bonnie Tyler, Bo Diddley and ZZ Top. It’s alarming at how many of these artists I’ve mentioned are not with us anymore.

So given that impressive bunch of names, it must come as no surprise that the playing is exemplary, like the named musicians above.

There are eleven tracks on the album, all of them blues or soul covers, all of them meaning something special to Romek. A couple of Bonnie Raitts, an Isley Brothers, a Keb Mo, a Jesse Winchester, a Bobby Blue Bland, and finishing with a John Hiatt. We took the songs, stripped them down and gave them the Fortunate treatment says Romek.

This is the second album by this band, the first, only released in Jan 2026, was original songs mostly written by TJ Robinson of The Pirates, and there is one song on this written by him and Mick Green. So this one comes less than six months later. Do they have a large fan base demanding a new album, I don’t know. I hope they do.

I have played this album quite a few times now, and, like I said you can’t fault the playing, singing, the choice of songs or the recording, but this album doesn’t really do it for me, it’s too safe, too predictable, nothing jumps out. For me it’s too much on one level. But I guess there will be a whole host of Eric Clapton and Robert Cray and Joe Cocker fans who will really like it. I imagine they go down well in a live setting, and they are touring the UK and Ireland in November. ***

Review by Andy Sharrocks

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 6 July 2026

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BEN POOLE No Second Chances (indie)
THE DEAD REDS Empire (Regni Records)
THE WLDLFE No Sleep (Riser House Records)
JANE AND THE KILLER QUEENS Body Horror (indie)
ESCAPE THE HIVE Around The Sun (Deko Entertainment)
ELYSION Guardian Angel (Massacre Records)

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09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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